Shooting #News: Peoria Arizona resident Dave Bowers woke up to his house alarm going off and confidence someone had broken in.

"I have just one entrance into the house and that's the back door. He came through the breezeway, turned the corner and he had a torch. By the time I got from the bedroom. He was already lighting the floor on fire," said Bowers.

Bowers went for his gun and the arsonist came after him, no doubt with intent to do great bodily harm. Bowers managed to reach his weapon but the arsonist reached him as well.

"We were scuffling on the floor, he said 'Aren't you concerned about the fire?' But I wasn't going to give him the gun," said Bowers.

Bowers must have known he'd need to pull the trigger for this nightmare to end.

"I think I emptied the gun. I fired once in the in the house. and five times as he went across the field," said Bowers. "... I don't understand how he got up," said Dave Bowers. "A 357 with a hollow-point round is devastating."

One tough criminal, indeed. The suspect was found several blocks away and Maricopa County Sheriff's Office stated he was released form jail only two weeks ago. Bowers house was a total loss, and a friend, a 73-year old, was killed in the fire.

Courtesy ABC15